News

Texas Health Resources recently received the Richard A. Norling Premier Alliance Excellence Award for its healthcare leadership. According to Ferdinand Velasco, MD, THR's vice president and CMIO, the award comes as a recognition of what the whole organization is doing around population health.

The five most recent CIOs of the Year look into the future and imagine what healthcare IT will look like in 10 years. What they see ahead, they say, is both challenging and exciting.

At the National Health Policy Conference in Washington this past week, officials from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the National Institute of Standards and Technology made the case that EHRs must be usable -- and useful -- lest the huge investments in them be wasted.

One of this year's themes at the HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition is connecting attendees with real world results. The HIE Symposium on March 3 aims to do just that.

U.S. doctors' use of health IT has been sharply increasing, up from 46 percent who used an EMR in their practice in 2009 to 69 percent in 2012, according to a survey of nearly 9,800 primary care physicians representing 11 nations. The Commonwealth Fund released findings of the survey in November 2012, and expanded on several drill-down topics during an online presentation Feb. 5.

Existing obstacles are making it difficult for practices to exchange data with HIEs. Could a snowball effect follow?

For the second time, President Barack Obama has nominated Marilyn Tavenner to be permanent administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She has been serving as acting administrator since December 2011, when Donald Berwick, MD, stepped down.

National health programs have been, or are now, becoming electronic, just as health records are. Many of these programs will play major roles in either incenting or conflicting with efforts to advance the electronic healthcare infrastructure. And as with other industries, becoming electronic changes the way these programs can and should be carried out themselves. John Loonsk, MD, discusses how it might all shake out.

During the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition, attendees can visit the over 13,000 square-foot Intelligent Hospital Pavilion (Booth 8711) at the Exhibition Hall on March 4, 5 and 6.

The Office of the National Coordinator's Health IT Standards Committee is urging ONC leaders to lean towards menu options and certification for use cases on Stage 3 meaningful use rather than core requirements, and to especially keep in mind that standards for a variety of clinical procedures are still evolving.